"Got it, got it. Hmph, that guy actually dared to sneak up on me. Doki, smash him flat!"
The Kaguya Clan member trapped in the spider silk could only watch helplessly as the massive club drew closer.
"No, please!"
Unfortunately, his pleas were useless. Doki brought the club down with all his might, smashing him deep into the ground.
"Ugh... Y-you despicable... despicable..."
After taking a direct hit like that, even a Kaguya Clan member, renowned for his physical toughness, breathed his last in fury.
With their teamwork, even two experienced Kaguya Clan elites met a bitter end beneath their strange and unpredictable assault.
Unlike Tayuya and the others, who were fighting elsewhere, Biwa Juzo and Raiga Kurosuki had fallen into a desperate situation at the center of the battlefield.
After repeatedly using Lightning Release Ninjutsu, Raiga Kurosuki had already spent most of his chakra without achieving the results he wanted. With no other choice, he switched to close combat and engaged Taketori Nihi at close range.
As for Biwa Juzo, ninjutsu had never been his strong suit. And with Kubikiribōchō shattered, he took a longsword from a nearby Kirigakure Anbu and joined Raiga Kurosuki in attacking Taketori Nihi.
Even while facing two of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen at once, Taketori Nihi seemed completely at ease. The bone whip in his right hand lashed at Biwa Juzo in midair, forcing him to block with his sword. The bone spear in his left hand thrust straight at Raiga Kurosuki's face, leaving him no choice but to cross his twin blades and parry.
"Clang!" The bone spear slammed into the twin blades, and its immense force traveled through them and into Raiga Kurosuki's arms, numbing them.
Raiga Kurosuki knew he wouldn't be able to withstand Taketori Nihi's next blow.
"That kind of strength... it's beyond Jonin level. Could it be that you..."
Watching Taketori Nihi grow fiercer with every clash, Raiga Kurosuki knew it made no sense—unless his opponent's strength surpassed that of a Jonin.
"Heh heh heh. For a dead man, you sure have a lot to say." Taketori Nihi pulled back the bone spear on his left arm, then retreated to gather strength. The spiraling spear began to spin rapidly.
"Let your blood please me. Kill me, or be killed by me!" Taketori Nihi fixed Raiga Kurosuki with a bloodthirsty stare. He relished the feeling of fighting at full strength and yearned to drink his opponent's blood.
"Die! Die by my Strongest Spear!" Under Taketori Nihi's oppressive presence, Raiga Kurosuki found even fleeing difficult.
"If that's how it is, then we'll die together!" Facing a blow he knew would kill him, Raiga Kurosuki let go of his fear of death and cast off his restraints.
Raiga Kurosuki gave up trying to stop the bone spear rushing toward him. Raising the Kiba blades over his head, he spent the last of his chakra to summon the lightning above the clouds.
"Lightning Release: Thunder Burial!"
At the instant the bone spear pierced his body, a torrent of wild lightning descended from the sky onto Raiga Kurosuki and Taketori Nihi.
The explosive force of the lightning swallowed them both in an instant. Its dazzling brilliance lit up the entire sky, and the enormous surge of energy scattered the mist around the battlefield.
This was Raiga Kurosuki's strongest attack—the final gambit of one life for another.
"Rumble, rumble, rumble..."
"Get out of the way!"
The terrifying lightning erupted, and a powerful shock wave, trailing sparks, spread outward. It even tore up all the earth in its path. Everything it touched was destroyed, as if some dreadful force had plowed through it.
The Kirigakure Anbu and Kaguya Clan members nearby hurried to escape the aftermath, but a few who were too slow were swept into the lightning and reduced to dust in an instant.
"Raiga Kurosuki... is dead."
In the distance, Biwa Juzo stared mutely at what had happened. Of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, who had once shaken the Shinobi World, only he remained. So much had changed in less than two years, leaving him lost.
At least Raiga Kurosuki's final attack had looked devastating. It should have left Taketori Nihi severely injured, if not killed him outright.
The surviving Kirigakure Anbu and Kaguya Clan members all thought the same.
When the Anbu saw Taketori Nihi vanish into the blinding lightning, they secretly rejoiced. The most troublesome enemy in the mission had fallen, and it was only a matter of time before they wiped out the remaining Kaguya Clan members.
Seeing their clan head take such a devastating blow, the Kaguya Clan remnants couldn't believe their elite Jonin could possibly have come through unscathed. A shadow fell over their hearts.
What happened next left everyone present gaping in disbelief.
When the lightning and dust finally cleared, Raiga Kurosuki had vanished without a trace. Only his twin blades remained, stuck into the ground, their earlier thunderous presence gone.
Though Kiba was one of the most renowned of the Seven Ninja Blades, without its master, it was nothing more than a lifeless weapon.
Raiga Kurosuki's fate had been sealed the moment Taketori Nihi's bone spear struck him. Everyone was more concerned with the other person involved: Taketori Nihi.
"That's... impossible, right? He doesn't look hurt at all..." When the center of the battlefield fell quiet, everyone saw Taketori Nihi standing there in excellent condition, without a scratch on him.
The Kaguya Clan members were happiest of all. The dread weighing on their hearts finally lifted.
"Thank goodness, Clan Head! I'm so glad you weren't hurt."
"Clan Head Nihi is invincible!"
By contrast, the Anbu's morale sank.
Three of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen and dozens of elite Anbu had launched a surprise attack on the Kaguya Clan. It should have been a sure thing. Yet now, one of the swordsmen was dead, another had been turned into a mindless cripple by an illusion cast by his own side, and the last had escaped serious injury but had even lost his weapon to the enemy.
The Kirigakure Anbu had suffered no fewer casualties than the Kaguya Clan. The clan's fearless fighting style had left some Anbu severely injured by desperate counterattacks, while others had been dragged down with their enemies. Their willingness to fight to the death had deeply shaken everyone present.
If they hadn't been in Kirigakure, the remaining Anbu would probably have begun retreating already. Even so, they saw no hope of victory—unless the Mizukage or the mysterious Mizukage Aide personally joined the fight.